The advent of common broadband connections and file sharing has also impacted the film industry. Versions of first-run and even unreleased movies of varying quality can be easily found on most file sharing networks. While the comparatively massive size of these files makes them harder to download than music or software, they are obtainable.

Also, DVD recording is on its way to becoming a common feature of home PCs, a fact which no doubt gives Hollywood (and your local video store) the cold shivers. While copying to videotape from television is old news, DVD has changed things somewhat.

The DVD format is encrypted to begin with, and various legal action has revolved around the sharing and use of software that can duplicate DVDs to other DVD disks, and to sets of multiple CDs or a file.

In a sense, DVDs are at the vanguard of the whole DMCA/copy protection issue, since the large size of DVD movies makes them difficult to trade online, they are more likely to be duplicated for personal use by a legitimate owner.

However, such act involve bypassing the built-in CSS encryption of the DVD, which is currently a copyright violation under the DMCA in the United States. Currently there is no legal way to duplicate a commercial DVD that you do not own the copyright to. That means, backing up your favorite Matrix DVD would break its copyright.

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